Are chickens noisy?

[JensChickies]

A fence, such as enola suggests, would virtually insure a quiet flock. Hens are generally quiet critters except for the exuberance they display around egg laying. There is an occasional individual who gets it in her tiny mind to be vocal and sing for the world, just because she feels entitled.

Then there are the outbreaks of noise that are triggered by strange people going by and strange animals appearing near the run. A nice privacy fence would prevent a lot of this sort of racket.

But overall, hens are a rather silent bunch of beasts.

Lol...I agree....squirrels and blue jays set my girls off! Lol!!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

A few hens make a whole lot less noise than a large flock. Some breeds make less noise than other breeds. A tall solid fence around the hen yard can help muffle noise. Adding trees around the yard will help keep things quiet, also.

Agreed.
Also, be careful that you don't unintentionally train your flock to be noisy nuisances - we see a lot of people posting about "how do I make my birds be quiet" and when a few details are learned it comes about that the human has inadvertently taught their flock that being loud gets the human to come out of the house and toss them some treats (ie a handful of scratch). To the human, they are tossing scratch and the birds go quiet (eating) so mission is accomplished. What the bird sees, though, is that if they are loud they get fed/attention from the humans/some other positive re-enforcement of the bad behavior. What follows is a vicious cycle of birds being louder and doing so more often during the day rather than becoming quieter more civilized members of society, and the keeper becoming more and more frustrated (as well as any neighbors)

 

[lovemy6hens]

x2 to what Ol Grey Mare wrote above.

In addition, when one starts bock, bock, bocking the others join in. When we had a rooster, the noise was incredibly loud. I couldn't tell which one was the rooster sometimes. It's really funny if they're your own, if you don't mind the noise, or if they haven't trained you to come with the racket. Not so much if you're the neighbor with the noisy chickens.

Our neighbors now have guinea hens. They make a very loud and unpleasant noise and I wonder if the neighbors knew guineas sounded like that before they got them. I wouldn't have known. It is funny though to watch them chase the roaming chihuahua down the street while making that noise.

 

[enola]

I find it to be simply amazing how quickly animals can train humans! My house dogs are almost finished with their training of Mike!

 

[mortie]

Agreed.
Also, be careful that you don't unintentionally train your flock to be noisy nuisances - we see a lot of people posting about "how do I make my birds be quiet" and when a few details are learned it comes about that the human has inadvertently taught their flock that being loud gets the human to come out of the house and toss them some treats (ie a handful of scratch). To the human, they are tossing scratch and the birds go quiet (eating) so mission is accomplished. What the bird sees, though, is that if they are loud they get fed/attention from the humans/some other positive re-enforcement of the bad behavior. What follows is a vicious cycle of birds being louder and doing so more often during the day rather than becoming quieter more civilized members of society, and the keeper becoming more and more frustrated (as well as any neighbors)

This is very wise advice.

 

[krista74]

My rooster is loud. Not the crowing mind you - that I had anticipated.

What I had not considered is that he might sing The Egg Song. After every single egg is laid. In chorus, with the hen of the moment.....!

- Krista

 

[Ravynscroft]

My rooster is loud.  Not the crowing mind you - that I had anticipated.

What I had not considered is that he might sing The Egg Song.  After every single egg is laid.   In chorus, with the hen of the moment.....!

- Krista

Glad to know my Roo isn't the only one who does that!! lol... The way he carries on you'd swear that HE personally laid each and every egg!!

 

[krista74]

Glad to know my Roo isn't the only one who does that!! lol... The way he carries on you'd swear that HE personally laid each and every egg!!

Some of them are little weirdos for sure

This is the same rooster who wedges himself in between the feeder and the waterer, and then calls the girls over excitedly to see the 'perfect nest' he has found for them!

He also burrowed a tunnel into a bale of hay and sat in there making broody hen clucking sounds for an hour

I gave up trying to understand him long ago, ha ha!

- Krista

 

[Ravynscroft]

Some of them are little weirdos for sure  

This is the same rooster who wedges himself in between the feeder and the waterer, and then calls the girls over excitedly to see the 'perfect nest' he has found for them!

He also burrowed a tunnel into a bale of hay and sat in there making broody hen clucking sounds for an hour     I gave up trying to understand him long ago, ha ha!

- Krista 

Sounds like quite the character with an amusing personality! So far, Cheeky singing the egg song is his only strange habit, lol. He's a great example of an amazing Roo and I am lucky to have him.

 

[yellowchicks]

Also, be careful that you don't unintentionally train your flock to be noisy nuisances - we see a lot of people posting about "how do I make my birds be quiet" and when a few details are learned it comes about that the human has inadvertently taught their flock that being loud gets the human to come out of the house and toss them some treats (ie a handful of scratch). To the human, they are tossing scratch and the birds go quiet (eating) so mission is accomplished. What the bird sees, though, is that if they are loud they get fed/attention from the humans/some other positive re-enforcement of the bad behavior. What follows is a vicious cycle of birds being louder and doing so more often during the day rather than becoming quieter more civilized members of society, and the keeper becoming more and more frustrated (as well as any neighbors)

My 4 Leghorns are usually quiet, except when singing a short egg song in the morning. After reading the above post, I did an experiment, I found that if my chickens could see me through the window, they would start making noises trying to get my attention for food. If they couldn't see me, they would remain quiet just standing around looking at one another even if they were hungry. If they are fed, they are pretty quiet all day and night, just minding their own business.